Opioid scourge forces BCI lab to farm out some drug tests

BCI estimates it will do more than 27,000 drug tests this year, nearly double the 13,879 in 2010.

Alan Johnson The Columbus Dispatch @ohioaj

Hit with a growing demand to test high potency illegal drugs, the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation will seek more money to farm out some testing.

Attorney General Mike DeWine this week will ask the state Controlling Board to approve an additional $440,000 to pay crime labs in Hamilton and Cuyahoga counties to perform drug tests that otherwise would be shipped to BCI, a branch of DeWine's office.

Bureau Superintendent Tom Stickrath said it is not only the increasing number, but the complexity of tests submitted by law enforcement agencies that is prompting the call for help.

BCI estimates it will do more than 27,000 drug tests this year, nearly double the 13,879 in 2010.

In 2010, only 34 samples tested positive for fentanyl, 50 times stronger than heroin. But that number jumped to 2,396 last year, bureau records show.

Positive tests for heroin went from 2,378 to 5,768 and cocaine from 3,871 to 4,711 between 2010 and 2016.

Carfentanil, an animal tranquilizer, didn't show up at all in BCI tests between 2010 and 2015, but was found in 34 tests last year.

The extra $440,000 would come on top of an additional $2 million already allocated for BCI in the new state budget that took effect July 1. The new money is expected to come from a criminal forfeiture fund and general revenues.

"We've kind of held our own, but last year we started getting these incredibly complex mixtures," Stickrath said of BCI testing. "It really changed the landscape."

For example, Stickrath said he used to walk into the primary BCI lab in London, Ohio, and ask what the technicians were testing. Frequently, it would be oxycodone, cocaine or black tar heroin.

Now, Stickrath said, he doesn't even walk into the lab because the drugs being tested are much more hazardous and lab workers must wear protective clothing.

"The last time I asked it was cocaine, heroin and two types of fentanyl in one sample," Stickrath said.

More complex tests are more time consuming, he said.

The issue is expected to appear on the Aug. 21 agenda of the Controlling Board, a group of bipartisan legislators headed by a gubernatorial appointee that considers major spending requests.